Electric regulation



J. L. CREVEL|NG.

ELECTRIC REGULATION. APPLICATION FILED AUG-II, 1916; RENEWED SEPT. 7, 1922.

1,438,934, Patented Dec. 12, 1922.

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INVENTOR'.

Patented Dec. 12, 1922.

UNITED STATES 1,438,934 PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L. CREVELING, OF WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GOULD COUPLER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC REGULATION.

Application filed August 17, 1916, Serial No. 115,416. Renewed September 7, 1922; Serial No. 586,805.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN L. CREVELING, a citizen of the United States, residing in White Plains, county of VVestchester, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Regulations, of which the following is a description.

My invention pertains to that class of electric regulation wherein it is desired to regulate a generator in a predetermined manner and has for a particular object to provide means whereby this operation will be automatically carried out.

As my invention is particularly applicable to systems employing a dynamo driven at variable speeds and wherein it is desired to maintain the current in a circuit and also the voltage upon a circuit from exceeding predetermined limits, it will be described with particular reference to such a system.

The drawing is a diagrammatic representation of one type of system embodying the essentials of my invention and is a form of such embodiment particularly useful in the art of lighting cars by electricity generated by power derived from the axle of a car and subject to wide variations in speed. In such systems it is customary to use a storage battery to supply the lights or other translating devices when the generator is ineffective and, therefore, in this embodiment I have shown a storage battery cooperating with the generator as will hereinafter more plainly appear.

p In the drawing, 1 represents "a dynamo or generator provided with the usual field coil 2, having in series therewith a suitable regulating device or element, in this instance indicated at 3 as a resistance of the carbon pile variety, and it will be obvious th f the dynamo-may be governed by properl ;/governing the pressure applied to the carbon .re-

sistance or pile 3 in a well known manner. 4 represents any suitable type of mounting frame or back plate upon which the apparatus controlling the resistance 3 is mounted and is provided in this instance with a stud 5, carrying a bell crank lever composed of a longarm (land a short arm 7. The long arm 6 carries near its opposite extremity a core of iron or other magnetic material 8 pivotally connected therewith as indicated. The opposite end of the said core 8 carries a rod 9, preferably of brass or other nonmagnetic material, 'which is pivotally attached to one extremity of the lever 10, the opposite extremity of which is rotatablymarried by the stud 11, supported by the back plate or mounting 4. A spring 12 adjustable as by the nut 13 tends to swing the lever 10, rod 9, core 8 and lever 6 downwardly so as to rotate lever 6 in a clockwise direction and tend to bring the extremity thereof in contact with the adjustable screw 14. 15 is a dashpot resisting too sudden movement of the lever 6 in a well known manner. The lever 7 carries at its upper extremity a pivot or pin 16 engaging and rotatably supporting one end of the bell crank lever composed of the long member 17 and the short member 18. The short member bears against one end of the carbon pile 3, the opposite end of which rests against any suitable type of abutment, indicated at 19, and, therefore, it will be obvious that the pressure upon the carbon pile 3 may be controlled by manipulating levers 6, 17, or both. The lever 17 carries the core of iron or other magnetic material 18 at one extremity pivotally attached thereto as indicated. of the core 48 carries a rod of non-magnetic material49, pivotally attached as indicated to the lever 20, one extremity of which is rotatably carried by the pivot or stud 21. The spring 22, adjustable as by the nut 23, tends to swing the lever 20 in a clockwise direction about its support 21 and into contact with the adjustable screw or stop 24, while too sudden movement of the said lever 20 is resisted by the dashpot arrangement indicated at 25 cooperating with the free extremity of the said lever 20. It will be obvious that the spring 22, therefore, tends to press the rod 49 and core 48 downwardly so as to swing the lever 17 in a clockwlse direction and cause lever 18 to increase the pressure upon the carbon pile 3 while spring 12 also tends to increase the pressure upon the carbon pile 3 by so swinging the bell crank lever 6-7 as to laterally displace the bell crank lever 17-18 so as to compact or press the pile.

The positive lead 26 of the generator is connected with the positive side of the storage battery 27 and one end of any suitable translating circuit regulating device, in this instance indicated as a carbon pile 28. The

opposite end of the said pile 28 is connected as by the lead 29 with the positive terminals The other end of the lamps or other translating devices indicated at 30, having their negative terminals connected with the negative lead 31 which is in communication with the negative side of the storage battery 27 and with one end of the coil or solenoid 32, the opposite end of which is connected as by lead 33 with one terminal of any suitable type of automatic switch, indicated at 34 and having its remaining terminal connected as by the lead 35 with the negative side of the generator 1.

A fine coil or solenoid 36 is shown as connected in shunt across the generator circuit, preferably through an adjustable resistance 37. The .coil 32 when energized ter. ds to lift the core 48 and swing the bell crank lever 17-18 about its pivot 16 so as to decrease the pressure upon the carbon pile 3 and increase the resistance thereof. The said coil 32 is placed in any circuit of the system wherein it is desired a predetermined maximum current shall not be exceeded, as for example it may be in the main circuit as shown and affected by the total output of the generator or in series with the battery merely and affected by the current in that circuit only, as for example it may be placed in series at the point X.

The shunt coil 36 when energized tends to lift the core 8 and swing the bell crank I) lever 6-7 about its pivot or support 5 in such a manner as to move the lever 1718 in a left-handed direction and decrease the pressure upon the pile 3 and increase the resistance thereof. The coil 36 is in shunt to a circuit across which it is desired to prevent the potential difference from exceeding a predetermined limit, the said coil in this instance being shown in shunt across the main or generator circuit. 38 is a coil in shunt across the translating circuit affecting the pile 28 through the instrumentality of the toggle joint 39 and adjustable spring 40 in below that of the battery.

are well known in the art,

such manner as to hold the voltage upon the translating devices constant throughout increases involtage across the generator circuit in a well known manner.

' The main switch 34, thefpresence of which is merely diagrammatically indicated, is preferably one of the automatic. variety, closing its circuit when the generator voltage is substantially equal to that of the storage battery and opening the circuit when the generator voltage falls very slightly As such switches details are purposely omitted for the sake of clearness.

An operation of my invention with reference to that embodiment shown in the drawing is substantially as follows:

' If the generator be at rest or running at slow speed, the main switch 34 will be open and the lamps or other translating devices may be supplied by the battery 27 and their voltage held from exceeding the desired Leeaeea translating voltage by means of the pile 28 and its governing mechanism controlled by the voltage coil 38 as well understood in the art.

If the generator speed be increased until its voltage is slightly in excess of that of exceeded, the spring 22 will hold the lever 20 in contact with the adjustable screw 24. Current Will also flow from the lead 26 to the lead 35 through the shunt coil 36; and I so adjust the spring 12, as by the nut 13, or

I so adjust the resistance 37 that, if the voltage of the generator be below that maximum which shall not be exceeded, the spring 12 will bring the extremity of the lever 6 into contact with the screw or stop 14. Or I may so adjust the screw 14 as to allow a little lost motion to compensate for contraction or wear of the pile 3 which contraction or wear may be allowed for in a similar manner by adjustment ofv the screw 24 instead of the screw 14 if desired.

Therefore, if at any time the voltage tend to increase above the predetermined maximum, the coil 36 will raise the core 8 and lever 6 so as to swing lever 7 and decrease the pressure upon the pile 3 so as to increase the resistance thereof and cut down the ex citation 'of the coil 2 so as to prevent this predetermined voltage from being exceeded. lif at any time the current in the coil 32 tends'to exceed the predetermined limit, the said coil will cause the core 48 to be raised and swing the lever 17-18 about its pivot 16 in such manner as to increase the resist ance 3 and prevent this maximum current from being exceeded. In systems employing a storage battery, small voltage changes across the charging circuit are usually produced by quite large current changes, and considerable current changes may take place upon small fluctuations in voltage. In order that 1 may make my regulator responsive to the small fluctuations in voltage, I preferably make the lever 6 of appreciably greater length with respect to the lever 7 than the lever 17 with respect to the lever 18, when my regulator is used in such a system as portrayed in the drawing, for example.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that I have produced a system of electric regulation wherein both current and voltage may be held from exceeding predetermined limits and it will be noted that l have produced such a system employing a member, the motion of which controls the generator and which member is given a definite movement in response to current fluctuations and which member may also be moved to control the generator in response to voltage fluctuations in a manner independent of its movement in response to the current responsive means; that is, in a specific form thebell crank lever 1718 is rotated about its pivot 16 in response to current fluctuations to control the resistance 3 which resistance may also be controlled by the movement of the lever 6 which displaces the pivot 16 and its lever 1718 without necessarily altering the angular position of the lever 1718 with respect to its pivotal point. And it will be obvious that the relationship of the current and voltage coils or responsive means may be reversed in this respect Without departing from the scope of my invention.

I do not wish in any way to limit myself to the exact constructions and details of operation given in this specification merely to portray one embodiment of my invention as wide departure in details may be made Without departing from the scope of my invention which is as set forth in the following claims:

1. Means for regulating a generator comprehending a variable regulating element, rotatable means affecting the same, current responsive means for rotating said rotatable means combined with voltage responsive means for affecting the regulating means through the instrumentality of the rotatable means by lateral displacement thereof.

2. Means for regulating a generator comprehending a variable re lating element affecting the operation t ereot, rota-table means for affecting said regulating element to cause variation therein, current responsive means for rotating said rotatable means, movable means for determining the center of rotation of the rotatable means and voltage responsive means affecting said movable means to regulate the generator by moving said center of rotation in response to voltage fluctuations.

3. Regulating means comprehending a variable regulating element, current responsive means, voltage responsive means, movable means uniting and cooperating with each of said responsive means including a common member through the motion of which one only of said responsive means produces regulating effects upon the regulating element.

4. Regulating means comprehending movable means and responsive means for moving the same, a second movable means and responsive means for moving the same, means permanently uniting the movable means and permitting one of the movable means to be moved without movement of the other movable means and causing the first named movable means to be moved when said other movable means is moved.

5. The combination with a regulating device, of movable means for afi'ecting the same, responsive means for moving said movable means, a second movable means and responsive means for controlling the same, of means permanently uniting the said movable means and permitting motion to take place in one thereof without causing motion in the other and causing all motion taking place in said other movable means to affeet the first named movable means.

6. The combination with a generator and a regulating element controlling the operation thereof, of movable means responsive to a characteristic of said generator, another movable means responsive to another characteristic of said generator, means perma nently uniting the said movable means permitting one thereof to move independently of the other and whereby motion of said other movable means is instantly imparted to the first named movable means.

7. An electric regulator having a regulating element, a current responsive coil, element operating means controlled thereby, a voltage responsive coil, element operating means controlled thereby, one of said operating means being provided with a connection with said other operating means, the arrangement being such that at certain stages of operation one operating means may operate independently of the other operating means and whereby one of the operating means may instantly affect the other operating means.

8. An electric regulator having a currentresponsive coil, operating means controlled thereby; a voltage responsive coil,operating means controlled thereby, and a variable resistance; means connecting said operating means whereby operation of either of said operating means causes an immediate change in said resistance, said connecting means permitting one of said coils to vary said resistance independently of the other coil and its operating means.

9. Means for regulating a generator comprehending a variable regulating element, rotatable means aifecting the same, responsive means for rotating said rotatable means, and responsive means for affecting the regulating element including means for laterally displacing the rotatable means.

10. Electric regulating means comprehending a regulating element. rotatable means for affecting said element, responsivemeans for rotating said rotatable means, and means for affecting the regulating ele ment comprising responsive means and means whereby the same moves the rotatable means independently of rotation thereof.

11. Means for regulating a enerator comprehending a variable regu ating element iperation thereof, rotatable means for at ting said regulating element to cause vari on therein, responsive means for rotating'said rotatable means, movable means for affecting the center of rotation of the rotatable means, and responsive means for affecting said movable means to regulate the generator by moving said center of rotation.

12. Electric regulating means combined with operating means therefor including a rotatable lever and responsive means for affecting the rotating the same, of means for varying the.

position of the center of rotation of said lever, and responsive means for operating said last-named means.

13. Electric regulating means combined with operating means therefor comprehending a movable member and means for supporting the same permitting a plurality of independent movements of said movable member, of responsive means for imparting certain definite motion to said movable member, and another responsive means imparting a different type of motion to said movable member.

14. Electric regulating means combined with operating means therefor comprehending a movable member and means for supporting the'same, responsive means for affecting said movable member, and independent responsive means for moving said supporting means.

15. The combination with a generator and a regulating device afiecting the operation thereof, of means for affecting said device comprehending movable means and responsive means controlling the same afraeaeaa fected by the operation of the generator, means forsupporting said movable means, and responsive means affected by the operation of said generator for moving said supporting means.

16. The combination with a dynamo and a regulating device affecting the operation thereof, of means for controlling said device comprehending movable means and responsive means for moving the same affected by a characteristic of the operation of said dynamo, means for supporting said movable means, and responsive means affected by another characteristic of the operation of the dynamo for moving said supporting means and the movable means supported thereby to affect the regulating device.

17. The combination with a dynamo driven at variable speed and a storage battery charged thereby, of means for causing the current in a circuit supplied by the dynamo and the voltage impressed thereupon to'both be independently held within predetermined limits comprehending a regulating device affecting the electrical operation of the dynamo, movable means responsive to one of the above named characteristics of the dynamos operation and affecting the regulating device upon fluctuations in the characteristic measured thereby, means for supporting said movable means, and means responsive to the other characteristic of the dynamos operation for moving the support of said movable means to affect the regulating device in response to fluctuations in the characteristic measured thereby.

JOHN L. CREVELING. 

